Longtime Homeowners are Rare

November 21, 2003

As Americans get older they stay in there homes longer, says Motoko Rich.

Typically, in the United States, homeowners stay in their homes an average of six years. However, in the town of Warren, Mich. an analysis of the 2000 census figures shows that residents of Warren are the least mobile in the United States:

Only 18.9 percent of the heads of households of Warren had lived in their current home for 30 years or more.

In the United States over all, only 9.7 percent of households had been in the same home for more than three decades; almost 20 percent of householders moved into their residence in the 15 months before the census.

Pennsylvania, which has 17 percent of its households living in the same home for more than 30 years, is the state with the highest rate; ranked second is West Virginia, with 14.8 percent.

Connecticut and Massachusetts were tied for third/fourth with 13.4 percent of households living in the same home for more than 30 years; while New York had 13.1 percent as longtime residents.

Four of the top 10 cities of more than 100,000 people with longstanding residents were in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie and Allentown.